Simon again a frontrunner at home GP

Spanish riders tried to carry the local dominance from the 125cc session into Moto2 this afternoon but it proved to be a tougher task, with a Spanish rider on top of the time sheet but a mixture of nationalities dominating the top positions. Mapfre Aspar rider Julián Simón made constant progress throughout the session on an updated version of his RSV machine, which initially showed signs of chatter in the fast corners.

The Spaniard worked to iron out the problem by adapting his riding style slightly and changing the geometry of the chassis, setting his fastest time just two laps from end to finish the session seventh fastest. His team-mate Mike Di Meglio encountered the same problems and worked in the same way to solve them but still has plenty to do when the action resumes tomorrow.

7th Julián Simón 1.45.229 (19 laps): “We had a few new things to try today so we had to take things step by step and make sure we understood each one of them. I also started the session with a front tyre that was causing the front end to skip around, which didn’t help, but we were able to sort a lot of the chatter out by going back to the setting we had here in the winter test. That is the direction we need to work in tomorrow because it’s the one I feel most comfortable with. The RSV improved a lot as the session progressed and I am satisfied with the overall performance of the tyres. We’re not far off the pace of the top guy and I am happy, even though we’ve had a busy day. Hopefully tomorrow we can finish the work we started and fight for pole.”